

Well, that all depends on the school, how many students they have, and how they want to dish out the money.

8 How Much Money Are Colleges Giving Out? citizen or eligible noncitizen, having a Social Security number, being registered with Selective Service (if you’re a man), having a high school diploma or GED, or completing high school through home schooling. Other than that, there are a few other boxes to tick to fall into Title IV, but it’s pretty standard stuff-like being a U.S. The Department of Education doesn’t say you have to fill out your FAFSA, but that’s pretty much the only way for them to know if you’re eligible. But here’s where things get a little sticky.

6 So, how do you know if that’s you? Well, first of all, you have to be eligible to fill out a FAFSA (aka are able to get financial aid).

Only the students who fall into Title IV of The Higher Education Act of 1965 can receive money from a HEERF grant. Once the money is in the hands of the students, all bets are off on how they’ll spend the money. Now, with all that being said, the money is supposed to be used “for expenses related to the disruption of campus operations due to coronavirus.” 5 So basically, the money given to the students should be used for the costs (and annoyance) that came from shutting down the campus during the pandemic.Ī lot of schools have stressed that the students should use the money to pay for their education in some way-but there’s no way of making sure they do that. No one’s checking to make sure they spend it wisely here. How Can Students Spend Money From a HEERF Grant?Īny way they want to spend the money- really. Some have already cut checks, while others are waiting until next year to do it. The schools have until the end of the spring 2022 semester to give out the HEERF grant money. So how many HEERF grants are there? Well technically, there are three HEERF grants out there-one tacked on to each of the three economic acts (CARES, CRRSA, and ARP). They have to dish out some of the money to the students too, and that happens through HEERF grant money.Īnd in case you were wondering-nope, the school has no say in how the students spend the money, and the school can’t use the money to cover bills that the student has either. See here’s the deal: The school can’t pocket all the money from the HEERF fund. Here’s how it all breaks down through each act.Īmerican Rescue Plan (January 2021): $40 billion 3 What Is a HEERF Grant?Ī HEERF grant is money set aside from the HEERF fund that goes directly to the students. Try billions and billions of dollar bills-$77 billion to be exact. How Much Money Did Schools Get From the HEERF Fund? As for the money that goes to the students, that comes along through something called a HEERF grant (more on that in a minute). This money from the HEERF fund went directly to the colleges and universities to use for the school overall. OUT NOW! Watch Borrowed Future on Amazon Prime Video, AppleTV and Google Play. With each of these bills, colleges and universities received money to use for costs they’ve had to deal with because of COVID-19, like covering their payroll and making the switch to online distance classes. The HEERF (Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund) is emergency funding that was set aside for colleges and universities through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations (CRRSA) Act, and the American Rescue Plan. Let’s break down what the HEERF is all about. Yeah-it’s a lot of weird terms to take in. And actually, the college is getting a payday of their own through the bigger HEERF fund. The name might sound like it came from the Nerf company, but instead of foam darts, HEERF is hitting college students with extra cash. (Yeah, that acronym could be way better.) If you’re in college right now, listen up-cash could be coming your way thanks to a little something called a HEERF grant. Have you seen all the headlines about colleges giving out cash to students and wondered what the heck is going on? It might sound like a scam at first, but it’s not.
